Far-right leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty of misappropriating European Union funds by a French court on Monday and was barred from running for public office.
Le Pen was handed a five year ban, knocking her out of the 2027 Presidential race, unless she successfully appeals before then.
Le Pen, the head of the National Rally (RN) party and the current front-runner in opinion polls for the next election, walked out of the courtroom, after hearing the decision, before being driven away.
Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer of the European Parliament, walks on the day of the verdict of the trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, member of parliament of the Rassemblement National (National Rally – RN) party, with 24 other defendants (party officials and employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants) and the RN party itself, over accusations of misappropriation of European Union funds, at the courthouse in Paris, France, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
According to Reuters, the ban is a significant blow to Le Pen, 56, who has run for president three times and has stated that 2027 will be her last attempt at winning the French presidency. While the ruling would not immediately strip her of her parliamentary seat, it could derail her long-held ambitions of leading France.
Le Pen has dismissed the charges as politically motivated, drawing parallels to U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of persecution in his own legal battles. “They are seeking my political death,” she has alleged.
The case involved accusations that Le Pen and members of her party misused EU parliamentary funds to pay France-based staff who were working for the RN rather than performing duties for European lawmakers. The court found that the misallocation of funds was not a mere oversight but part of a deliberate scheme to reduce the party’s expenses.
Members of the media wait outside the courtroom on the day of the verdict of the trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, member of parliament of the Rassemblement National (National Rally – RN) party, with 24 other defendants (party officials and employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants) and the RN party itself, over alleged misappropriation of European Union funds, over accusations of misappropriation of European Union funds, at the courthouse in Paris, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
“It was established that all these people were actually working for the party, that their (EU) lawmaker had not given them any tasks,” Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis stated. “The investigations also showed that these were not administrative errors … but embezzlement within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party’s costs.”
